Year 6 - Autumn Forest School

During this term, Year 6 have been learning how to indepedently use the 'Kelly Kettle' at Forest School. The children started off by using the 'sheath knife' to wittle kindling for the fire. They worked in twos, listened to the safety talk and used the 'sheath knife' between them to wittle the wood. The children understood that they needed different sizes of wood for the different stages of the fire. 

In the next Forest School session, the children worked on building their 'waffle' fire technique for the base of the fire. They learnt that the thicker pieces of wood needed to be at the bottom of the waffle and the thinner at the top as they could catch alight easier. Once the 'waffle' was built, the children had the safety precautions in place to start the fire. They ensured they had a fire safety blanket, burns kit, fire gloves and a bucket of water. 

Some of the children were able to successfully use the 'magnesium striker' to light the fire. The children who did not manage this have already made it their target for next term. 

Once the fire was going, the children added their kindling carefully to the fire. The children learnt that they should not over smother the fire with too much wood as this would make the fire go out. They also learnt that by, carefully, blowing on the fire it would add more oxygen to keep it alight. 

The children were successful in their fire making and as a result were able to make hot chocolate. 

Well done Year 6 for being excellent Forest Schoolers and for showing determination with your fire making.